Assessing Aid for Trade
Effectiveness, Current Issues and Future Directions

Aid for Trade (AfT) has been an integral part of official development assistance (ODA) since its inception at the World Trade Organization’s Hong Kong Ministerial in 2005. While many observers agree that the initiative has generated momentum in securing more trade support, the policy discourse on AfT continues to be vibrant and dynamic.
This volume, comprising 16 chapters prepared by 20 renowned experts from a range of international organisations, think tanks and academic institutions, including Commonwealth Secretariat, ODI, ECDPM, DIE, ICTSD, Saana Consulting, WTI Advisors, and Columbia University, provides a comprehensive review of the Aid for Trade initiative.
Part I of this volume uses quantitative and qualitative analysis to examine the effectiveness of different components of Aid for Trade and underlying factors affecting the outcomes. Part II provides analyses of current issues, including regional AfT, global value chains, infrastructure for development for agriculture, AfT adjustment and lessons from emerging economies in aiding exports. Part III looks to the future, proposing a range of possible directions including an alternative way to improve trade outcomes for developing countries from Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 11.17MBPDF
-
Click to Read online and shareREAD
Assessing the Effectiveness of Aid for Trade: Lessons from the Ground
This chapter enquires into the conditions that make Aid for Trade (AfT) effective by drawing on evidence on the ground. This evidence is not quantitative, nor does the chapter purport to undertake a systematic evaluation of the AfT initiative. Instead, it is based on a set of country-level case studies that the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) has undertaken since mid-2010, using a unique methodology developed jointly with SAWTEE.
- Click to access:
-
Click to download PDF - 364.42KBPDF
-
Click to Read online and shareREAD